From the Field Philippines: Malaya Means Free
Written by Isaiah Aaseby
Malaya, Malaya. Malaya in Tagalog, which is one of the national languages of the Philippines, means Free. If I had to characterize the Leadership Bible Retreat that we just facilitated for leaders on our Campus in the Philippines, it would be characterized by being Free. Free to worship the same God together, Filipino and American alike. It also is the name of a song that we sang during worship most nights during the retreat, and was demonstrated in the freedom to be God’s children at the end of the retreat.
Our team hosted a weekend Leadership Bible Retreat for invited leaders from our campus & community in the Philippines, providing for them intensive times in worship, Bible study, and fellowshipping together. The hope of the time was to make known to them about God's building project, which is his children. God is interested in building all of us, and it was a weekend of God working on all of us individually and collectively. We are his workmanship, and his temple (Eph 2:10, 1st Cor 3:16). This is in contrast to other initiatives people may prioritize in attempting to continue building God’s Kingdom. Due to Covid-19, this has been the first time our team has rejoined with our team located in the Philippines in person since 2019. There was no better way for us to join back together than to spend the weekend on a retreat and spending time together in worship, prayer, Bible studies, and fellowshipping.
During our times of worship and studying the Bible together with our Filipino team, I was reminded of Jesus’ words in John 4:19-24 to the Samaritan Woman:
“The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
In this scene in John, Jesus communicates with a woman from Samaria. She notes the difference in where her ancestors worshiped in contrast to the Judeans, highlighting a historical tension between those from Northern Israel and Judeans from Southern Israel in Jerusalem. Behind these places of worship is cultural tension regarding where they worship God. Jesus comes against this and the idea of one centralized location of prayer connected to one family & culture. Jesus directs her to the kind of worship the Father seeks: those who worship in spirit and truth (v.23-24). He means that we can worship God and connect with him by his spirit and live lives connected to the truth of his word. We can do this wherever we are, regardless of ethnicity or birthplace.
This weekend was powerful in getting to worship with our team from the Philippines. We had several impactful times of worship and learning God's word, Filipino and American. From my perspective, I witnessed a lot of healing and reconciliation among our team living in the Philippines. They brought themselves humbly before the Lord and let God’s word and truth impact them individually and communally. The theme for the Leadership Bible Retreat was “Pressing On” from Philippians 3:12-16. One of the central messages of this conference was that we are God’s building project and want to work on ourselves. Our speaker for the retreat, Jason Carpenter, the Manager of the South East Asia team of GOD Int’l, challenged everybody to leave the past behind and continue to press forward towards the ministry God is calling us to do as a group. He communicated that our past can hold us back from continuing to walk forward with God and serving others and the crucial need to press on toward that goal.
To press on is an act of faith, to let go of what has happened in the past that prevents us from pressing on toward the work God has for us. Whether it is losing loved ones, conflict, fears, or many other things we struggle through, Our team from the Philippines has had its individual and communal experiences and needs to press on. It was surreal hearing them acknowledge what they have experienced and had to contend with and for them to humbly acknowledge it with one another. We had multiple small group discussions where we were challenged to consider what to let go of and press on towards.
At the end of the retreat, we had a testimony night. We had three testimony times the following nights after the retreat because of what God had done. One by one, they all took time to testify to what God was doing in them and what they were pressing on from. It was an emotional time, hearing people share their stories, what they have worked through, and how God has been faithful to them. The result of this time and the weekend was reconciliation and freedom. Reconciled to God and one another, and free to be the children of God that all of us have been called to be. We connected with God from two parts of the world and experienced his spirit through our time together. God has freed us from the things from the past so that we can press onto the goal and calling we have together. Malaya, Malaya.